DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Kasey Kahne had a simple plan. See the space, be the car and — perhaps most importantly — get some help.

With some timely bump drafting from Ryan Sieg, Kahne came from two car lengths behind in tight space through the final turn to edge JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith by just 0.021 seconds and win the Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

"It was great to have (Sieg) there," Kahne said. "Before it went green with two to go, Ryan said he was going wherever I went. It feels good when you have a trailer there that's going to go, go, go. You can go into the wrong place once in awhile, but if you have a car that's pushing you, you can get into the right place. Every move I made worked out because he was there."

Smith, who took the NASCAR Nationwide Series points lead with the runner-up finish, led most of the second half of the race. During a green-white-checkered finish in which many of the leaders were concerned about fuel, Smith seemed to pull away handily.

However, a two-length lead vanished from the middle of Turn 4 to the finish line on the last lap as Kahne, with Sieg on his bumper, moved through the middle, bounced off Kyle Larson's car, and edged Smith on the outside line at the stripe.

"It felt pretty good and then all of a sudden it felt pretty bad," Smith said. "We had the restart we wanted to get. We got three-wide and all choked up. I was trying to give everyone some air. ... The 5 (Kahne) got a huge run on the outside. We came to the line and he was able to nip us there."

Sieg finished third, followed by Ryan Reed, Larson and Joey Logano. The finish put Sieg in the Dash For Cash next weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in which drivers vie for a $100,000 bonus.

"All the guys were screaming about it afterward," Sieg said. "It was really awesome."

The win was the sixth this season in Nationwide for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports, but as the cars approached the finish line, he wasn't sure it would happen.

"When I saw him come back, it looked like the 5 (Kahne) was sideways," Earnhardt said. "He had a handful with whoever was pushing him through there."

It was Kahne's first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory since 2007 and eighth win in 204 Nationwide races in his career. "It feels good to win anywhere, let alone at Daytona," Kahne said.

The final shootout to the finish was set up by a caution on Lap 98 of the 100-lap race after Darrell Wallace Jr. and Brendan Gaughan tangled, sending Gaughan spinning in the exit of Turn 4. Smith maintained the lead over Chase Elliott, Ty Dillon and Larson.

On the restart with three laps left, Elliott's car ran low on fuel and sputtered and slowed, causing a multi-car pileup behind him. That sent the race to a green-white-checkered finish with several of the lead drivers concerned about fuel.

Elliott, Kyle Busch and Elliott Sadler used the caution period to take fuel, but Smith stayed on track in the lead over Larson. The green flag was waved off when the cars couldn't get in order, causing more use of fuel because of an extra caution lap.

On the final restart, Smith, who led 47 laps, pulled away from the pack before Kahne roared from eighth place to win. The margin was the eighth-closest in series history and third-closest among Nationwide races at Daytona.

"I felt trapped back there for most of the race," Kahne said. "But once we got up there and had speed and the right guy behind me, things worked out."

Jeffrey Earnhardt, grandson of Dale Earnhardt and nephew of Dale Earnhardt Jr., had to turn to a relief driver Friday after revealing he had sustained a broken collarbone in a motorcycle crash earlier in the week. Matt DiBenedetto replaced Jeffrey Earnhardt during a pit stop on Lap 53. DiBenedetto finished 33rd in the 40-car field.